Wow, that's a truly fantastic post. I think it's going to take some time to digest.

Tom Gabriel Fischer wrote:

There's also another issue: if a band doesn't work randomly or haphazardly, i.e., if a band exerts enough control over its industry surroundings to create exactly the album it envisioned, can such an album be faulted? Granted, the album might not fulfill somebody else's opinion of what it should have been, but if the band desired to make exactly this album and wouldn't have created it any differently even if it had been exposed to such criticism and arguments beforehand, then the band has achieved its objective and is, to some extent, immune. Monotheist and Eparistera Daimones were two such albums.

Interesting and I tend to agree. I'd go a bit further though and say it doesn't even matter if the method is haphazard and chaotic. Art is a product of the soul, with the mind performing some sort of critical faculty. If the work is conveying real ideas and real thoughts, then it fulfills its function. As Rothko once wrote, he's not an interior decorator, he's a philosopher.

I'm going to be a dissenting voice and say I'm really liking what I'm hearing on the new record. Waiting for the vinyl to arrive.

I am deeply honoured by the long response of one of my biggest icons in metal ever
Anyway i have nothing to add except answering in this :
"The first album by Triptykon, which apparently is so beloved, is neither called Eparisterai Daimones nor Eparistera Diamonds. "
The mistake with the "diamonds" was due to ipads horrible correction of the words you want to type .I didn't see the edit button and thought that there's not one . Both Tryptikon titles are from my native laguage (I am Greek).

I redesigned the logo slightly and the winged pentagram quite significantly. I simply felt they needed to be improved a bit, for various reasons, after six years.

A pleasant side effect of which is that it's now easier to make patches using the logo .

Incidentally, Celtic Frost's heptagram also went through a number of incarnations through the years.

Tom Gabriel Fischer

Just a detail but I compare the new winged pentagram with the "old". honestly, while I much prefer the name of the bands logo with the extended "N" , I prefer the new symbol: It seems more balanced, a little less amplitude, but gaining in curves forms . the 2 "upper inner horns" raise up the work center.
Rectilinear and angular part fits together very well with the curved one.
A successful evolution._________________Please , let me die in Solitude ...

At any rate, I, too, think Melana Chasmata might be the most deficient post-Celtic Frost reunion album I have been involved in. I have made uncounted such statements within the band during the extended time we were working on the album, and there exists a long string of very unambiguous mails to this effect, addressed to the band's management and to our partners at Century Media.Melana Chasmata was an exceedingly difficult and complex album to make, and that is never a good sign. There were reasons for these difficulties, and they were far from superficial, on more than just one level. In the end, I couldn't have worked on this album for even one more day, even though I seriously pondered at least a remix, if not far more drastic revisions. But I eventually felt I needed to wrap it up and thus also conclude the entire emotional landscape attached to it.

Frankly, I personally am utterly puzzled by the extremely favourable opinions the album has garnered from most in our audience as well as from reviewers, record company, management, and fellow band members. My own stance is far, far more critical, and I have so far been unable to listen to the album as a whole. The faint light on the horizon, for me, is that I felt the same way about To Mega Therion in late 1985. Only a few years down the road did I begin to digest that album and its production, eventually enabling me to think of it as one of Celtic Frost's most significant albums.

I wonder, do you have a different relationship, at this point, with MC than you did with Monotheist? I seem to recall that there was feverish work right up to the end. For instance, Totengott was added after the album was formally completed, was it not? I seem to recall that you said here that you were glad you were done "with the damn thing." Perhaps I misremember.

Or, because of the preceding events, is this an entirely different situation?_________________I am Lazarus, risen from my tomb.

Frankly, I personally am utterly puzzled by the extremely favourable opinions the album has garnered from most in our audience as well as from reviewers, record company, management, and fellow band members. My own stance is far, far more critical, and I have so far been unable to listen to the album as a whole.

Hello mister Warrior
I was at the Roadburn afterburner and thoroughly enjoyed your performance. In my opinion the band has grown significantly when it comes to live performance compared with your first in 2010. (Which to be honest I skipped a lot of because of Pagan Altar!)
However this makes me wonder, on what basis/thoughts did you pick the new material you played live? I assume you picked your own/bands favorites? Even though you did not playAurorae.
I hope you did and never thought about us the crowd/press/everyone else because in my opinion the moment where a band starts to take the opinion of the general public more serious than their own the band will start their decline but I assume you agree for the most part with this sentiment.

Tom Gabriel Fischer wrote:

Melana Chasmata was an exceedingly difficult and complex album to make, and that is never a good sign. There were reasons for these difficulties, and they were far from superficial, on more than just one level. In the end, I couldn't have worked on this album for even one more day, even though I seriously pondered at least a remix, if not far more drastic revisions. But I eventually felt I needed to wrap it up and thus also conclude the entire emotional landscape attached to it.

I deeply respect this move. I wish more artists would realize that sometimes you just can't get everything right.

Tom Gabriel Fischer wrote:

I can fully understand that a listener in today's world will think of Triptykon's music as "experimental" (even "boringly experimental") or gothic. Fact is, none of us have ever consciously steered the music to be "experimental" or "gothic". That's not how we ever create our songs. If something we do appears "experimental" to somebody, it simply reflects that the listener in question deems that such a thing cannot/should not be done in metal. We (in Celtic Frost and later) have never thought like this, otherwise we would have never used a violin and female vocals on Morbid Tales (at a time when such a thing was rated intolerable) or created tracks such as Dance Macabre. And much more on later releases. These things simply reflect our own musical influences and listening tastes (new wave, jazz, classical, electronic)

Personally I've never looked at experimentalism in metal in this way. For did not every new movement in metal or even proper music in general start in a experimental fashion. The rise of internet has had a profound impact on experimentalism in metal. Bands blurring the lines between various genres have become almost more common than bands staying in the (progressed) nature of their basic subgenres. Experimentalism is now more accepted than ever before in metal. However at times it does seem that a lot of people prefer a band to be progressive/innovating almost just for the sake of it than a good rendition of a classic style. All that matters to me personally is if a release is well executed.

Lastly I want to thank you for being a active participant on your own forums. Too often bands or even people in other fields refrain from doing so. When in my opinion it should be the norm.

Listening now, through Rhapsody. I assume that means that Melana Chasmata is also available through Spotify. I will not be able to sit down for a serious listen, because I got greedy.

"Tree of Suffocating Souls" -- Wow. I'll be listening to that again for sure.
"Boleskine House" -- didn't care for this one all that much when it was first made available, to be honest. But I'm digging it more, now.
"Altar of Deceit" -- heavy. I have always been partial to the trademark Warrior growl, which is showcased here.
"Breathing" -- Of the first two tracks released, I preferred this one more. It now reminds me more of "A Thousand Lies", during certain passages. These may be the most extreme Warrior vocals ever.

And that is as far as I got._________________I am Lazarus, risen from my tomb.

Rather than post a new right under my last, I opt to amend this one. It is with hope that this decision is the most sensible.

I can think of no finer timing than the observed anniversary of the Christians savior rising from the dead to finally attempt in, what I admit honestly, simple words that do no justice to the material at hand. So here goes....

Having let this much awaited album properly digest in the Sarlaac that is my mind (and soul), I feel I'm ready to put to words proper how the latest work of a certain fanboys musical fixation has again bettered him as a functioning human on this toilet Earth. But first, I'd like to take a moment to explore how the often cross media misused word 'Fanboy' applies here, in concerns to me, personally. I am a Fanboy across many forms of before mentioned cross media. Movies, Anime, Video Games and even Cosplay. Thanks, to our half century old prophecy of 'media bombardment plastered and bill posted 24/7 in our faces' coming full circle, has seen rise to the phenom that is the Fanboy. Someone who is so into whatever niche or overlooked obscure interest that occupies his obviously troubled mind long enough to find solace, to find happiness, amidst the virtual sea of torment that is modern life in this foul year of our Lord, Two thousand and Fourteen, that his few things tethering him to reality and holding his belt loop over the edge of the abyss are labeled by those who easily pass judgement without so much as a glance past the sheen, as 'Fanboy', returning to their watercooler talk of last nights big singing competition on TV, or 'dem fellas that make 'dem Duck Calls...... Yes, I profess here and forever, that when it comes to the collective works of Triptykon (not just Mr. Warrior, no need to waste time on his obvious past creations, were here to discuss Triptykon, which is still frustratingly lost on so many online it seems as they still can't see past him to the other 3 amazing musicians) I am a Fanboy.

After watching for a few years around here, aging mentally and spiritually and going through many a change, this bands music has played as soundtrack to much of the roller coaster ups and downs I've endured...and I'd have it no other way. I can understand Tom's criticism, his stepping back to observe puzzlingly the myriad reactions to Triptykons latest work....it's much like sketching a picture, and having everyone say its so fucking amazing yet you can see the flaws, the mistakes so obvious that its utterly baffling as to how others don't see them...yet here its mostly an audible example, and I hope thats analogy is more correct than offensive, However... Mr's Santura, Lonhard and Fischer, Ms. Slajh... you've moved me again. And for that unique experience that few bring me, of touching places within me I bury away, places I purposely wear on my sleeve, and places I never knew were even there....for creating physical reactions in my skin in the form of goosebumps and chill, again, I thank you.

You see, music is to me, and many of you here, not simply an experience to hem over words with, analyze and time stamp, but a deeply personal experience that conjures thoughts and feelings. At this point in my life, after all the fire and ash I've both endured, and left in my path, I simply cannot enjoy anything that does not move me on a personal level. I have no milquetoast interests or desires, and to be honest I admire and envy those that do as their lives seem so much simpler and happier, but if I walked among them, as them, and not the black mark in the sea of white shirted lemmings marching into shiny metal boxes (sorry Sting), I would not be able to experience this bands music the way it was created, with deep, personal emotion poured into every string bend, every distortion, every hair standing flow of air through Toms larynx. Let the review sites and sales charts squabble over details that mean nothing to me. Music has to have a personal connection to me, in some way, like the other things in my life I find shelter in from the storm of daily life, it has to somehow evoke a reaction. Melana Chasmata has mostly succeeded in this.

The only reason I say mostly, is that for the brief length of time I've been letting this needed (yes, needed) album soak in my bitter, jaded and often hate filled brain brine, I've found it starting to evoke other emotions, positive ones. Yeah I know...fucked up right? Exactly. But thats the point. Changes. Changes evoked inside me as my closed eyes allow me to let the music explore the recesses of my mind and shadows of my heart and soul. This album is evolving as if its alive with every listen, like Dream Theater albums used to. The same way that a good Prog album (I hate to rely on labels anymore, but in this case its a must) cannot be absorbed and understood on first listen, unlike all that sheep herding horn blowing that plays across local drive time radio stations, truly fucking amazing music born from the soul of it's creator(s) cannot be absorbed in just one listen. And the best, the best music that lays trails for others to follow, for others to blaze after with torches held high in the night long after the elders have gone, like painting and sculpture, can never be understood or absorbed completely. Eparistera Daimones, for the countless times I've been blessed with its guidance down my dark paths towards better lights since its release, still shows me things anew on occasion, and I feel that Melana Chasmata will do the same.....for far longer. And the track that brings me this, conclusion, for lack of a better word, as I don't see it as a conclusion per se...perhaps more of an observation, is the track Aurorae.

Aurorae, Waiting and In the Sleep of Death as well, parallel the many highs and lows life has brought me over the past 3 or 4 years brilliantly in audible form, as through the course of their play memories of triumphs and defeats run next to each other, fighting for the lead. You can't put a price on that feeling, that experience of having something play your memories and the emotions associated before your closed, squiggly lined red flashed eyelids while sitting alone in complete darkness. These will be the tracks on this record few will talk about in length, and even fewer will acknowledge their power. These three tracks stand out to me as the most personal, the most thought and emotion provoking. They damn near open a spinning dimensional gate to Zurich in my mind. Please don't misunderstand, I'm really into the more, please again forgive this misuse of word here for I can at this writing find no better, mainstream, (ugh I hated just typing that, and it is with great caution that I dare use that word) tracks, as holy flaming shit screaming across the sky, they just lay waste like a megaton bomb, it's these tracks that remain in my mind, like worms settling in, long after the album is done playing, when I wake up in the middle of the night to a little noise, or to anxiously check the clock, these tracks immediately return in my mind to offer me comfort. To let me know that I am not alone in this world, but just unfortunately a half planet away from those who seem to understand the Chinese telephone pole of wires that is my mind, my soul.

Well done all. You've created art. Bottom line, brass tacks. Art. Now if you'll excuse me, I feel an intense need to go back to appreciating the newest piece of art in my rather eclectic, eccentric collection. Fits right in as if it was always there._________________triptykon.netcelticfrost.comhellhammer.org1349.comdarkfortress.org

You touch on a lot of things there, D, that are fundamental. I find it very difficult to talk about music: most of the reviews I read on places like the Metal Archives or wherever else try to discuss the matter in a sophisticated way but end up ringing hollow. Where writing about music fails, in my opinion, is where it ceases to discuss the reaction that the listener has.

On the other hand, I find it very difficult to commit my own reactions to words. So, for what it is worth, I think you have done a find job here, D. Well said._________________I am Lazarus, risen from my tomb.

I wonder, do you have a different relationship, at this point, with MC than you did with Monotheist? I seem to recall that there was feverish work right up to the end. For instance, Totengott was added after the album was formally completed, was it not? I seem to recall that you said here that you were glad you were done "with the damn thing." Perhaps I misremember.

Monotheist's music is almost exactly as it should be, and I personally think it has aged well so far. It is an album I am very proud of. It is true, however, that after working on it for over five years, I was truly glad to wrap it up (as was everybody else). Monotheist was an immense mountain of work.

However this makes me wonder, on what basis/thoughts did you pick the new material you played live? I assume you picked your own/bands favorites? Even though you did not playAurorae.

I hope you did and never thought about us the crowd/press/everyone else because in my opinion the moment where a band starts to take the opinion of the general public more serious than their own the band will start their decline but I assume you agree for the most part with this sentiment.

We always select and play the music that we feel strongest about and that we enjoy. We do not select our songs and/or repertoire in accordance with commercial pressures - as has been demostrated many times.

We originally intended to play Aurorae at Roadburn. The live performance of that song requires an additional guitarist as a temporary guest on stage, however. Unfortunately, the guitarist we intended to perform Aurorae with, Michael Zech, was tied down in a studio session, so we had to drop the song from the Roadburn set. We will very likely play it in that constellation on special occasions. It is the first video clip off the album, after all.

Tom,i have some Questions about this upcoming clip. Why exactly you choose this track ? I think AURORAE is so different than the other real dark tracks. I would call this track melancholic. (maybe i just have given the answer right now to myself)
Is this clip finished yet and will this clip also get this fantastic expressionism-style like SHATTER ?

(I'd tend to talk about Tom as a non-present subject, as I'd never assume he's here to read these things - But since he replied once in this thread, I feel obligated to speak to him directly, though my words are really directed at everyone. Ok?)

Tom - Thank you for your words! You don't owe anyone any explanations, but your honesty compels you to respond anyway, and that's vastly appreciated by *all* I'm sure!

And it's your honesty that is tangiably felt in your work.

I have yet to hear the full album, as my pre-ordered copies have not yet arrived, though I have heard the "Breathing" single. However -

Frankly, I personally am utterly puzzled by the extremely favourable opinions the album has garnered from most in our audience as well as from reviewers, record company, management, and fellow band members. My own stance is far, far more critical, and I have so far been unable to listen to the album as a whole.

This makes perfect sense - Given your HONESTY and the amount of exorcising that is put into your craft, and given the overwhelmingly dark nature of your output overall, it only makes perfect sense that this new album is not one you'd particularly want to re-experience time and again, just as one doesn't want to obsess over the miseries of their own lives. Who would??

As for the non-"metal" parts of the album (which, again, I have not yet heard), I have always considered you to be an artist that happens to work in a heavy medium. You have *ALWAYS* had an esoteric edge to it as evidenced by the very nature of Hellhammer, tracks such as Danse Macabre (which you already alluded to) and Tristesses de la Lune, and even pushing the boundaries of what is and isn't considered part of the genre with things like One In Their Pride. Vanity/Nemesis pushed boundaries just as much as Apocalyptic Raids did, but that's just my opinion. Why would or should MC be any different?

Further to that point (but again only my opinion), I cannot reasonably consider or judge a singular piece of output without considering the work as a part of a greater whole. I'm expecting to approach MC as the next notch in the 30+ year TGF timeline. But that's just me.

Very best regards,
PAULIE

PS to all - If anyone feels this is blowing smoke, I'll go so far as to say that I prefer Tom's TMT/ITP vocals over what I've heard on the Breathing single so far - No automatic pass here!

Tom,i have some Questions about this upcoming clip. Why exactly you choose this track ? I think AURORAE is so different than the other real dark tracks. I would call this track melancholic. (maybe i just have given the answer right now to myself)
Is this clip finished yet and will this clip also get this fantastic expressionism-style like SHATTER ?

We (or I in particular) chose this song for the video clip because it is one of the most unusual on the album, because it has a history that also connects it to Celtic Frost, and because it is a very personal song. To me personally, it is one of the most important songs on the album.

Filming for both video clips has been concluded for weeks already, and the first clip is now in post production.

The concept for this clip is an extension of Triptykon's previous visual presence, much like the abum is in many ways a musical extension.

Six spins or so behind, so here's my initial two cents. I did go for the deluxe package after all, not settling for a digital download. I'm glad I did this, just for the sake of the linear notes, not to mention the top-quality bonus content. It's great that the linear notes have gotten longer, bands should do things like that more often.

This is a very strong album, the entirety flows really well. As already pointed out by many, Melana Chasmata is not as angry or in-your-face as its predecessor. I'd say that superficially, purely music-wise the album is not as varied as Eparistera Daimones, but internally there seem to be more varied feelings and colours (which are, indeed, all dark). On the other hand, the shorter distance between its extreme sides also manifests as stability, as in not being so "all over the place"; variation and stability are double-edged swords, but both albums balance really well on their respective edges. Melana Chasmata is certainly more subtle, there's more to digest. This is also reflected in the cover artwork, which is a lot more abstract than the in-your-face horror gallery of Vlad Tepes.

Although their course is different emotionally, both Triptykon albums seem to have a distinct curve. Monotheist, for example, does not. (Note that this has very little to do with an album being solid.) What they also have in common, is the feeling of summation and resolution, even hope in the end. The end of Eparistera Daimones has a feeling of triumph after internal and external battles, and after the pitch-dark night of Black Snow, Waiting feels like a distant glimpse of dawn, whether it is behind some threshold or not.

"I shall live."

"We shall be free."

Which Triptykon album do I prefer? Is Monotheist better than the two? I honestly can't tell. Is there even a point in comparing?

Yeah, the last one is rhetorical. Expectations? Met._________________ᛋᛟᛚᚹᛖ ‡ ᚲᛟᚨᚷᚢᛚᚨ

This is also reflected in the cover artwork, which is a lot more abstract than the in-your-face horror gallery of Vlad Tepes.

Agree. the Vlad Tepes painting may seem shocking because of very sexually explicit detail that everyone knows. The dominant color of the piece is gray blue, so a cold color. as the major feeling I felt during listening to Eparistera Daimones.
artistic evolution between the two albums is also remarkable with Mordor Artwork, more abstract in contours. the main brown color is warmer, more prone to human emotions ,but darker and complex as well . Just like I feel Waiting and Aurorae songs .
Only my personal sensations_________________Please , let me die in Solitude ...